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American Experience
The Alaska Pipeline's Permafrost Challenge
The oilmen planned to build the Alaska pipeline the same way they'd built every other pipeline in the world -- dig a ditch and bury it. This would not work in the arctic. Beneath a thin, insulating cover of tundra and vegetation, much of Alaska sits on permanently frozen ground called permafrost. In some places, it's mostly gravel, but in others it's mostly ice.
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1:52:38
Revisit 1970s Boston, when court-mandated school integration unleashed racial unrest.
1:36:51
Casa Susanna was a refuge for transgender women and cross-dressing men in the 1950s-60s.
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52:22
Unsung scientist Mária Telkes dedicated her career to harnessing the power of the sun.
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Discover the story of the 1969 showdown between President Nixon and the antiwar movement.
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52:17
Discover the unexpected history behind Monopoly, America’s favorite board game.
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The influential author and anthropologist whose work reclaimed and honored Black life.
52:45
The story of the polygraph, the controversial device that transformed modern justice.
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The Blinding of Isaac Woodard with Spanish subtitles.
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How a horrific incident of racial violence became catalyst for the civil rights movement.
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1:52:47
Part Two examines the mounting dispute over strategies and reveals the pervasive racism.
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1:52:42
The fiery campaign that led to passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the vote.
1:53:12
The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the campaign to breed a “better” American race,